676 7 7 is et c s y os . 6 6 s s f . s o 7 c 7 s r i s s . 6 6 s e u s i 7 g m s 7 s SECM . h 6 y s t 6 s 7 r e N E W S L E T T ER s u e 7 s t 6 sn n s t 6 e h c s- s 7 7 6 6 7 issue no.35 spring 2020 Dulling Needles and Sweeping Chimneys: Racot de Grandval, and one by Pierre Boudin. The 1758 edition Vaudeville, Sexuality, and Private Theaters in kept all five of these plays,adding a sixth by Grandvalfils , LesDeux Mid-Eighteenth-Century Paris Biscuits. Vaudevilles, or songs created by combining well-known melodies and newly-written text,appear throughout both editions: Jenna Harmon in the 1755 edition,L’Eunuqueis followed by the notated melodies At the top of the hill that separates Montmartre from the rest of for each vaudeville cited in the play,where they are designated only Paris, to the immediate west of Sacré Coeur, sits the Paroisse by their timbre.The notated melodies were only included for the Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre. Within this parish, on the rue 1755 L’Eunuque,however,and were not included in the subsequent Blanche, two homes once shared a 1758 edition. garden: the first belonged to the The prevalence of vaudevilles in playwright and actor Charles- this collection might be surprising, François Racot de Grandval, and given that the appearance of the the other to the actress Marie- Théâtre de Campagne coincides with Françoise Dumesnil. The two were the period of the vaudeville’s fall colleagues at the Comédie- from popularity on the public fair‐ Française, and it was likely there ground stages, displaced by the ar‐ that they met and fell in love,before rival of the Italian Bouffons and the living together on the rue Blanche ensuing Querelle in the early half of for 47 years until Grandval’s death the 1750s. As a result of this shift, in 1784. In addition to sharing a newly-composed, Italianteariettes home, they also kept a small theater, supplanted vaudevilles as the domi‐ where Grandval “performed erotic nant vocal genre on public stages, works of his own authorship,such as which had been the central venue The Eunuch,or faithful infidelity…The for vaudeville performance up to New Messalina, The Two Biscuits, that point. The appearance of …performed before an audience of vaudevilles in privatethéâtre de so‐ amateurs.”1 Two of these plays, ciété play collections,like theThéâtre L’Eunuque ou la fidèle infidelité and de Campagne, shows that despite Les Deux Biscuits, appear in the this shift, there was still an interest Théâtre de campagne, ou les débauches in vaudeville.Still more intriguing is de l’esprit, a printed collection of the fact that the transfer of the song plays apparently intended for per‐ genre from the “low”setting of the formance on the private Mont‐ fairgrounds to more elite ones (e.g. martre stage maintained by private stages in the homes of the Dumesnil and Grandval. wealthy) did not necessitate a paral‐ Allegedly printed in London,Le lel change in tone for the vaudevilles Théâtre de campagne went through at least two editions, the first in themselves. 1755 and a second in 1758.2 The first edition contains five plays, Scholarship ofthéâtres de société has typically privileged them as two authored by Grandval, two by his father, the musician Nicolas a site for the intersection of salon culture and libertinage, with rel‐ atively little attention devoted to the plays themselves and, more importantly, the vaudevilles that animated the performances. Be‐ 1. Gaston Capon,Les petites maisons galantes de Paris au XVIIIe siècle: cause théâtres de société were private entertainments, records of per‐ folies,maisons de plaisance et vide-bouteille,d’après des documents inédits et des formances were reliant on the whims of those who hosted them. rapports de police (Paris: H. Daragon, 1902), 81–82. As a consequence, the archival evidence is “très mal réunie et coor‐ 2. While it is not impossible that the book was printed in London,the donnée.”3 Print collections like theThéâtre de campagne are some obscene bent of much of the material points to this location most likely of the only remaining evidence of the practice. being a false imprint,a common practice in France at this time for printed Melody was an equally important player in a vaudeville’s con‐ works that were likely to be banned or suppressed. See Daniel T. Smith, struction of meaning, making a musical response or performance Jr., “Libertine Dramaturgy: Reading Obscene Closet Drama in Eigh‐ teenth-Century France,” (Ph.D diss., 2010), 36, and Patrick Wald La‐ sowski, “Les Enfants de la messe de minuit,” in Marie-Françoise 3. David Trott,Théâtre du XVIIIe siècle: jeux, écritures, regards(Mont‐ Quignard and Raymond-Josué Seckel, eds,L’Enfer de la bibliothèque: Eros pellier: Éditions Espaces 34, 2000), 167. au secret (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2007), 39. continued on page 10 1 From the Editor President’s Message Guido Olivieri The SECM Newsletter is published twice yearly,in October and I hope this message finds all of you and your relatives and friends April. Submissions in the following categories are encouraged: well and healthy.What a difference a few months have made in our lives! I feel like it was another era when I was appointed president • News of recent accomplishments from members of the so‐ of the Society, but this is the first opportunity for me to thank all ciety (publications, presentations, awards, performances, who have encouraged me to present my candidature and for the promotions, etc.); support I have received. I will do my best to continue the great • Reviews of performances of eighteenth-century music; legacy left by our past President, Sarah Eyerly, and expand the • Reviews of books,editions,or recordings of eighteenth- scope and presence of our Society. century music; In this brief period since my appointment, SECM has faced • Conference reports; some challenging moments and difficult decisions. We were all • Dissertations in progress on eighteenth-century music; looking forward to a wonderful conference in Stockholm this past • Upcoming conferences and meetings; March.The excellent program committee (Janet Page,chair,Bertil • Calls for papers and manuscripts; van Boer, Erik Wallrup, and Ashley Greathouse) had put together • Research reports and research resources; a great selection of contributions. Unfortunately, the rapidly wors‐ • Grant opportunities. ening circumstances forced us to take the painful,but necessary de‐ cision of postponing the meeting. I am particularly grateful to the Contributions should be submitted as an attachment to an e-mail organizer, Bertil van Boer. After painstakingly planning a series of message (preferably in Microsoft Word format) to the SECM amazing events for months, he had to reverse course, managing Newsletter editor ([email protected]). Submissions must be cancellations in just a few days and very patiently coordinating ac‐ received by July 1 for the October issue and by January 1 for the tions with our hosts at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. April issue. Claims for missing issues of the Newsletter must be Throughout the process,I was in constant contact with the SECM requested within six months of publication. Annotated discogra‐ Board; to all of them goes my gratitude for their fantastic help and phies (in the format given in the inaugural issue, October 2002) advice. The Board is currently discussing ways to reschedule this will also be accepted and will be posted on the SECM web site. conference and will soon communicate its decisions. Discographies should be sent to [email protected]. The organization of the SECM and MSA joint conference,part of the intensifying collaboration between the two societies, is well D underway and a CFP will soon be announced. The conference, hosted by the Mozarteum Foundation,will take place in May 2021 SECM Officers in Salzburg. The SECM panel at the ASECS annual meeting has been post‐ Guido Olivieri, President (2019–21); poned to 2021 in Toronto, after the 2020 ASECS conference was Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden, Vice President (2018–20); canceled. Evan Cortens, Secretary-Treasurer (2019–21) In the past weeks we have also started to discuss ways to open the Society’s governance to young scholars and graduate students. SECM Board of Directors I have asked Alison DeSimone and Rebecca Geoffrey-Schwinden to form a graduate-student committee that will work as a bridge Bertil Van Boer (2019–20), Dianne Goldman (2019–21), between the board and the graduate student members,as well as a Alison DeSimone (2019–21), Michael E. Ruhling (2018–20), liaison with other societies. Beverly Wilcox (2018–20), Laurel Zeiss (2019–21) Finally, I want to express my deep appreciation to all members ex-officio who have donated to the Society and to the Murray Award fund Kimary Fick, Ashley Greathouse, Mark W. Knoll in the past weeks.Although I am sure there are other crucial prior‐ SECM Honorary Members ities, the Society has also sustained some setbacks in these dire cir‐ cumstances and will enormously benefit from the continuous † Eugene K.Wolf (2002),† Daniel Heartz (2003), members’ support. We need to continue to look ahead and keep † H. C. Robbins Landon (2004), Malcolm Bilson (2005), creating opportunities for scholarly exchange and supporting the Bathia Churgin (2009), Sterling E. Murray (2016), work of young scholars in our profession. I look forward to when, Paul R. Bryan (2017), Mary Sue Morrow (2018) despite this new “normality,” we will get again together and con‐ tinue the creative and dynamic activities that have characterized our Society.